Razer Blade 2016 – who said lingerie models can’t do MMA?

An ultrabook which can game is like a lingerie model doing some MMA fighting, right? We always said there can’t be thin and light 13-14 inch-laptops capable of gaming but we always forget about Razers’s little wonder machine: The New Razer Blade 2016. Ladies and gentlemen, behold the 14-inch laptop which bolts the last nail in the ultrabook’s concept coffin. We’re going to talk about why you should buy a Blade, its strengths and weaknesses and, of course, who should buy this almighty thin laptop.

Why would you go for the Razer Blade 2016?

Even though this is a two-grand ultrabook, it can play games. So, if you travel a lot and need a 14-inch laptop but also want to play games, this is worth every penny. Razer Blade is the only 14-inch gaming laptop on the market equipped with an NVIDIA GTX 970M. Of course, you won’t be able to play new games at a maximum resolution and enjoy highly accurate details, but you will have almost 60 FPS in every game. If it’s a demanding game like DOOM, you will have to reduce detail level or resolution. GTX 970M is a good graphics card, but can’t do wonders… With the next generation of Blade equipped with Nvidia GTX1060, things will change though in terms of performance.

The Strengths of Razer Blade 2016

BUILD QUALITY

The build quality reflects the price. For $2000 you get all the aluminum in the world, and a very thin ultrabook which doesn’t flex, not even the display. You get a glossy display too, which looks incredibly sharp combined with the QHD resolution (3200×1800). This is a beautiful laptop and there are no quality compromises involved. This is one of the best build quality laptops on the market even though it is not as popular as other brands, such as ASUS or Alienware. Maybe because it’s the new kid on the block.

FORM FACTOR AND HORSE POWER

The New Razer Blade 2016 is 0.7 inches thin, 14 inches wide and weighs less than a 2L Coke PET (4.25 lbs.). Even though it’s thin and light and looks like a MacBook, it has a lot of horse power inside. The GTX 970M (6 GB GDDR5 VRAM) and the Intel® Core™ i7–6700HQ processor can make your traveler dream come true: gaming just got real. You will be able to play almost any title on this laptop if it’s not highly demanding in terms of resources. GTX970M will soon get obsolete once the GTX1060 gets its spot on stage, but that doesn’t mean gaming won’t be a pleasure on GTX970M. I sincerely appreciate Razer for bringing such a thin and powerful gaming laptop on the market.

KEYBOARD

Well, Razer is by far the best peripherals manufacturer in the world right now so the keyboard on the Blade can’t be anything but quality. It is backlit and you can also assign any RGB color to it. As for the comfort concerns, the keys are big and the travel distance is bigger than its predecessor’s, which makes this keyboard better. You just can’t say anything about this keyboard, there’s nothing to pick at. This keyboard is premium quality. Of course, we can be jerks and say it lacks the right side NUMPAD, but we love Razer so we won’t say that. I think there aren’t so many 14-inch laptops with NUMPAD keyboards on the market anyway.

The Weaknesses of Razer Blade 2016

LOW UPGRADE CAPABILITY

Razer decided to solder 16 GB of RAM to the motherboard and… that’s all you get. You can’t replace it, you can’t put more into it. To be honest, you won’t really need more than 16 GB of RAM for any kind of activities, not only for games. Games can run just fine on 8 GB.

I don’t like the storage solution either. All you get is a 256 or a 512 GB PCIe SSD. No 2.5-inch bay. If you go for the 256 GB version of Razer Blade 2016 you will see some low speeds because the PCIe speed scales with the drive size. It’s the 256 GB PCIe SSD, or the 512 GB one. I recommend the 512 GB one because it will be faster and the 256 GB one could get crowded pretty easily, we all know how much space modern games can take up on hard drives.

IT GETS HOT LIKE A STOVE

This laptop gets hot but it’s quite normal if we think about how thin the body is – just 0.7 inches. There is a GTX970M graphics card inside and it’s quite normal to get high temps. Even though Razer threw inside a Skylake chip, temps will still go crazy at around 130F under the load. If you are bothered by the high temps or high fan noise under the load, you’d better stay away from this little monster. It is clearly not intended for you.

NO ULTRABOOK BATTERY

Even though Razer Blade 2016 has 14 inches and can be considered an ultrabook, the battery life is not as good as this class is asking for. But if we think about the display resolution, the processor and the dedicated NVIDIA GTX970M inside, 5 hours on battery will be just fine. This is one of the few compromises you will make if you buy this ultrabook.

Conclusion: who should buy a Razer Blade 2016?

Razer Blade 2016 is quite an exclusive ultrabook. It is intended for travelers who love to game, it is intended for quality lovers and, last but not least, it is intended for people who are willing to pay over 2 grand to have this modern monster in their backpack. If you like Razer Blade 2016, you will have to face almost nonexistent upgrade options, the hot temperatures under the load and, last but not least, loud fans.

What do you think about the Razer Blade 2016? Are you willing to pay the 2 grand or are you willing to wait, now that a new version of this Blade with NVIDIA 1060 graphics card is on the way?